Dracula Review – The French Director’s Love-Struck Revamp of the Classic Horror Story is Absurd but Engaging

Perhaps audiences aren’t clamoring for an updated adaptation of Dracula from Luc Besson, the filmmaker known for stylish excess. Still, one must admit: his lavishly upholstered vampire romance has ambition and panache – and with its B-movie charm, it could be preferable compared with Eggers’s dignified recent take of Nosferatu. A few strange elements appear, including one shot that appears to show a land border between France and Romania.

Christoph Waltz as a Clever but Weary Clergyman Hunting Vampires

Christoph Waltz embodies a humorous yet burdened man of the church pursuing the undead – I can’t believe he hasn’t played this role before – who arrives in Paris in 1889 for the French Revolution centenary celebrations. Likewise present is the malevolent vampire count, enacted by the seasoned horror actor Caleb Landry Jones speaking in a twisted regional dialect evoking Carell’s Gru character in the Despicable Me films. It’s a role he seemed destined to play.

The Plot: A Tale of Love and Loss

Here’s the premise: Dracula has traveled ceaselessly the world in torment for hundreds of years after his transformation into a vampire, a punishment due to his blasphemous mourning over the death of his wife, Elisabeta (an inaugural screen appearance for Zoë Bleu, Rosanna Arquette’s child). Dracula has sought relentlessly for a lady who could be the return of his deceased partner. Unfortunately, the fortunate female turns out to be Mina (also Bleu, of course), the demure fiancee of the count’s timid estate manager, Jonathan Harker (Ewens Abid), who just traveled to Dracula’s fortress to negotiate his real estate holdings and the small picture of the winsome Mina drew the vampire’s attention.

Besson’s Direction and Comic Flair

Besson structures Dracula’s second-act backstory of international journeys sporting extravagant attire confidently, and he is not above providing some comedy moments with a distinctly Mel Brooks flavour – for example the vampire’s constant unsuccessful tries to commit suicide after Elisabeta’s death, along with absurd moments that occur when Dracula douses himself using a particular scent during the 1700s in Florence, which causes him to be irresistible to women. Absurd yet engaging.

Dracula is available digitally beginning on the first of December and in disc format from December 22nd. It will be shown in Australian cinemas beginning on the fifth of February, 2026.